3DS Monster Hunter and Slide Pad Expansion in This Week's Famitsu
Posted on 09.07.2011 at 11:17, by Anoop Gantayat

This isn't exactly confirmed yet, but our usual flying get leak sources are saying that Famitsu has a first look this week at Monster Hunter 3G, a 3DS entry in the Monster Hunter series. The 3DS title has been highly rumored, so this wouldn't be too much of a surprise.

Famitsu also has details on a new first party Nintendo peripheral that expands the 3DS with a second slide pad. This attaches next to the system's face buttons.

We'll hopefully have glorious confirmation or shameful debunkment (or possibly a bit of each!) a bit.

From the same French site that leaked Project Cafe (Wii U) first, 01net.

We are lucky to count among our –mostly anonymous - sources several foreign correspondants, some of them at key positions in the global gaming industry. We owe them, among other things, our early coverage of the Playstation Vita and Wii U hardware. One of them, who happens to be one of the very few Nintendo employees to dare break the code of silence, recently gave us a sobering account of the state of affairs inside the Big N structure.

More than any other sector, beit the music, motion picture, luxury or automotive industry, gaming is synonymous with emotional attachment to brands, devices and companies. And among all studios, publishers and makers, Nintendo enjoys by far the most sincere and dedicated following. Its logo, its many characters and IPs, its leading figures, like Shigeru Miyamoto, are the object of passionate scrutiny all around the world.

01net. writers are true Nintendo fans. One of us, William Audureau, recently published one of the most careful studies ever about the company’s most celebrated character (in French only so far). Our source has lived for, and eventually thanks to Nintendo, for most of his/her life. What s/he told us sounds like a wake-up call, inspired by the many troubles threatening the institution to which s/he has dedicated his/her life. For the same reasons, we decided to publish this information, as a five-part series running all week.

Part 1/5
3DS: the early bird who couldn’t catch the worm

We have known for a long time that the 3DS had been launched early to undercut the mobile industry, and the upcoming next-gen Playstation Portable. But this rushed release, probably partially responsible for its technical limitations and a disappointing battery life (when compared to past performance), will eventually have much graver and far-ranging consequences.

Ooops… I think we forgot something
It’s a mistake beyond belief, but Nintendo honchos finally had to admit, after the 3DS went through the mass production and release stage, that they had made a terrible omission: a right analog stick was a requirement to provide a superior gaming experience. According to our source, right as you read those lines, Nintendo engineers are spending many sleepless nights working on an additional device, which should be sold separately for about 10 dollars. Its shape and fixation mechanism are still unknown, but it needs a tight grip on the right part of the console. Will it have to be removed everytime you want to close the 3DS?

Feeling the pressure
Very recently, Nintendo asked a select group of developers to create titles specifically designed for two analog controls… even if that will entail an additional cost of 10 dollars per console to be played on currently available hardware. Although such noises rarely if ever reach the higher strata of the company, most Nintendo employees working with third-party developers are indeed feeling the heat, as disgruntled studios and publishers become more vocal in their disappointment.

Developers stand in line
Third-party support is key to the 3DS’s potentiel success. Only they can enrich the software line-up, suffering so far from a relatively low volume of fresh titles, which makes Nintendo’s ongoing policy towards developers all the less coherent. The submission and approval process is described as very costly, time-consuming and often arbitrary in nature. Worse even, dev kits are still extremely scarce. Although no longer produced by Intelligent Systems – Nintendo’s hardware R&D arm – but outsourced to Tokyo Electric and Marubeni, dev kits are still produced at a ridiculously slow pace (300 units per month), and sold for a hefty price. As a consequence, even six months after the release, the waiting lists are getting more crowded, and many studios are still waiting for a chance to develop on the 3DS. This erratic situation is described by our source as a good example of serious management mishaps inside the Big N, that act as an impediment to developer relations and hardware adoption by consumers.

What you can’t see…
According to our source, Nintendo is well aware that it has so far failed to convince the public that its 3D display technology was harmless. Many parents are refraining from buying the console for fear of adverse effects to their children’s eyesight. This innovative “glasses-free” 3D display technology, the console’s main selling point, could well prove a major stumbling block. The advertising issue, despite a vast deployment of demo units at the point of sale level, remains: how do you sell something you can’t show? In the wake of the early price-slashing and “3DS ambassadors” (20 free VC games) program announcements, Iwata’s welcoming of 2D (totally free of 3D content) games on the platform smells like capitulation.

This information corroborates several elements we obtained very recently from various sources. According to them, Nintendo is currently preparing a new 3DS for a 2012 release. This new version would radically tone down the whole “3D“ angle, with a new design and even probably a different name. In that perspective, the radical price-slashing, touted as a measure to boost sales, would also be a way to liquidate current stocks to make way for the sucessor…

There’s a war raging on out there…
Some of the problems alluded to by our source could find a happy resolution, but let’s not forget the unrelentless assaults from the mobile industry, with its breathtaking race to the heights of computing power. Phone makers, like LG with its Optimus 3D smartphone, are even coming up with their own “glasses-free” 3D displays. If John Carmack’s predictions – of smartphones outgunning current last-gen home consoles in “a very short time” – ever came true, the 3DS’s future could seem bleak at best… but let’s not forget there’s always the next brand new Pokémon around the corner!

I think it's more believable that this source has his facts wrong a little. Nintendo may be developing an analog stick add-on for the 3DS but it may be for internal use only, for devkits and such (as the article points out, there are very few devkits out there.) I think it's more likely Nintendo is going to launch a new 3DS with an integrated second circle pad.

That's if these rumors have a shred of truth, which I'm not convinced they do.

I'm never going to buy first-gen hardware ever again, especially for handhelds. The 3DS launch is one of the worst in history. 6 months after launch they decide that hey, maybe people like dual analog for camera control in 3D games. Unbelievable.

If this is true I am never buying another piece of Nintendo hardware ever again. Cut the price less than six months after launch, have 0 major games within the first six months, release considerably better update next year? Fuck you.

Sounds crazy but this french website has been on the money with the vita and the wii u. Did they also have some inside info on the 3ds that turned out to be accurate? But reading the english translation it seriously sounds made up. Who knows maybe their sources are just that good or maybe this time they've got bad info. It also reads like a more detailed Nintendo is doomed article which makes it seem different than their past "leaks" which were more technical and without the apparent message driving. If this is true though, how will Nintendo compensate those "loyal fans" who bought the 3ds only to get duped twice (price cut, then new model/handheld)? Crazy!!!

Not defending Nintendo here, if this is true it will suck big time for us early adopters, but why does every curse Nintendo/MS/Sony when this happens but camps at stores to get the new iPod/Pad with "Super Feature Turn the Volume Up with Voice" without any complaints or riots?

Hate to sound cliche here but this is EXACTLY why I didn't buy one at launch.

Yyyyyep.

I mean, a second analog stick is a bigger upgrade than what they usually deliver but...come on. This is what Nintendo does with their portable systems. It isn't hard to believe at all. Second stick? Maybe, maybe not. Complete redesign/overhaul? Count on it.